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Healthier Banana Bread

I’ve been making the same banana bread for well over a year now. It’s a solid recipe, but sometimes I feel guilty for the high amount of sugar (especially after adding chocolate chips.)

I’ve also been making these lactation cookies regularly. I wanted to combine the idea of oats and extra nutrition from flax seeds and nutritional yeast with my normal banana bread recipe.

I was really worried these loaves would be too soft to hold together, but they are tender and delicious. I ate at least three slices with zero guilt last night and couldn’t get over how delicious it was.

I hope you try it too!

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Tags: banana bread, breakfast, breastfeeding, dairy free, dessert, egg free, lactation, recipe, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 4 Comments
Categories breakfast, desserts, vegan

Galaxy Macarons

4 Sep

My first attempt at these were a failure; albeit a beautiful failure. People seemed to think they were pretty cool, so I wanted to share the recipe anyway. BUT since I’m a bit obsessive, I wanted to make sure they worked as an actual macaron with feet and everything.

Spoiler:they do.

If you want to have these just as “almond galaxy cookies” add extra color and bake them immediately without the resting period. If you do want macarons, make sure to rest and go lightly with the gel color.

If this is your first time here, be sure to check out Charis’s recipes at Floral Frosting, as she is the creator of this recipe. She’s got some beautiful recipes there, her buttercream is one of our favorites! You also should take a look at the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more amazing recipes. If you have trouble with the directions, try reading my troubleshooting guide for a little more in depth description.

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Tags: dessert, elderberry, galaxy, gluten-free, jelly, macarons, recipe, space, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 20 Comments
Categories aquafaba, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Vegan Blue Moon Ice Cream

30 Aug

Unless you’re from the Midwest like me, you probably have never heard of Blue Moon as ice cream before. This actually has nothing to do with the beer, although I have to imagine they would both taste quite nice together.

No one really knows the true flavor of blue moon, but it always tasted quite fruity to me. I imagine someone just thought “hey, let’s try to mix ALL the flavors together” and just went with it. Which is exactly what I went with here, and the flavor is spot on.

A few tips: stir the ice cream a few times in the freezer. I didn’t do this and it ended up a bit icy. The meringue will flop when you add it to the coconut milk but that’s ok, it will still add texture and size to your ice cream. I like Wilton sky blue coloring but you can use any blue coloring that works for you.

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Tags: aquafaba, blue moon, coconut milk, dessert, food, ice cream, Midwest, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 3 Comments
Categories american, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Birthday Dacquoise

19 Aug

I thought my last dacquoise was going to be the final one, but I couldn’t resist making one more, especially with my parents visiting for my birthday today. Since it is my birthday, I wanted to fill it with a few of my favorite things-caramel, chocolate, frosting, and Nutella. This is not something I would recommend eating everyday. In fact, I would highly recommend only having two pieces then letting someone else finish it, because it’s pretty indulgent.

Yet again, I planned this several days ahead of time. I made the caramel one day, the buttercream the next day, and the dacquoise the night before making it. It helps to spread out the process so you’re not trying to finish it all in one day. If you want to attempt making it in one day, be sure you don’t have a nagging toddler around your ankles and eat a full meal ahead of time, otherwise you’ll be snacking on all of the ingredients…

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Tags: aquafaba, buttercream, cake, caramel, dacquoise, dessert, food, recipe, swiss meringue, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 9 Comments
Categories desserts, personal, vegan

Cinnamon and Sugar Macarons

16 Aug

Do you remember the brown sugar and cinnamon Poptarts?? (Not sure if that needs a copyright symbol.) These were a middle of the night “I need to remake my cinnamon roll macarons” idea. Despite aiming for cinnamon roll flavor, eating these reminded me of my favorite Poptarts.

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Tags: aquafaba, cinnamon, dessert, food, macarons, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 1 Comment
Categories aquafaba, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Strawberry Buttercream and Lemon Curd Dacquoise

8 Aug

One of my favorite macarons I’ve made were strawberry lemonade flavored. Since it’s almost my birthday, I thought it would be really fun to combine those flavors in a dacquoise. This recipe isn’t quite as rich as my last one, but equally as flavorful. It also uses aquafaba in every layer, which I find really exciting!

Be sure to check out the vegan meringue Facebook group for more amazing aquafaba recipes and Aquafaba.com for frequently asked questions.

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Tags: aquafaba, dacquoise, dessert, food, lemon, recipe, strawberry, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 5 Comments
Categories desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Hazelnut Almond Dacquoise with Espresso Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache

5 Aug

I’ve been planning this in my head for almost a full month now. This is my 100th post on my blog, and I’m so thrilled to share it!
I finally got the hazelnuts last night and I was excited I could barely sleep. This is definitely something you should plan ahead for, or have a whole day devoted to cooking. I blanched my nuts and ground them the night before and prepped my buttercream the day before that. I use homemade aquafaba which may be a bit stronger than the canned kind – be sure it’s thick before attempting this. The ganache should be made close to when you start putting it together, but try not to pour it on warm as it will melt the buttercream. This recipe for vegan Italian Meringue Buttercream would be an excellent choice on this if you have the time to make it!

This recipe is highly adapted (read:made easier) from here, which I believe was originally published by America’s Test Kitchen here. Lisa Masaar originally posted her veganized version of the recipe in the Vegan Meringue Facebook group here. I adapted it from there, partially to imitate Sweet Maresa’s beautiful creations

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Tags: almond, aquafaba, cake, chocolate, dacquoise, dessert, food, hazelnut, meringue, recipe, vegan

Comments 27 Comments
Categories desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons

2 Aug

My home town high school had a breakfast available every morning for the kids who were dropped off early or who rode the bus. My favorite was breakfast pizza (the cafeteria would be full every other Thursday morning.) This is, unfortunately, not a recipe for breakfast pizza macarons. The other popular breakfast there were the Smuckers Uncrustables peanut butter sandwiches, because apparently it was too hard to make real peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These macarons remind me of the cloying, sweet flavor of those sandwiches in a bite size package.

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Tags: aquafaba, dessert, macarons, peanut butter and jelly, plant-based, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 2 Comments
Categories american, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Lazy Samoas

27 Jul

A few Christmases ago I received Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and it sat on my shelf for months before I finally opened it up. Once I did, I baked as many of the recipes as I could and sent them off to work with my husband. The consensus thus far is that the caramel pecan bars are the best, but these are a close second. Here’s where to buy it!!

I decided to try using aquafaba instead of flax egg in these and I wasn’t quite sure it would work. To my surprise, it worked perfectly and resulted in a fluffy and chewy cookie, as opposed to the dense flax – egg cookie. If you loved the covered shortbread girl scout cookies by the same name, you will love these, plus they’re way easier to make!

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Tags: aquafaba, chocolate, coconut, cookie, dessert, food, plant-based, recipe, samoas, vegan, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, vegetarian

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Categories american, desserts, vegan

Vegan Lemon Thyme Macarons

24 Jul

I was really intrigued by the idea of infusing aquafaba with different flavors and I have some beautiful thyme growing in my garden this summer. These macarons combined the savory flavor of thyme with a sweet lemon filling and are a perfect light treat.

Be sure to check out my macaron troubleshooting guide for a step by step with pictures!

As always, a big thanks to Charis at Floral Frosting for the vegan macaron recipe and inspiration! Check out the aquafaba Facebook group for more recipes involving aquafaba!